Useful Idiots Become Cannon Fodder For The Left

William Alexander Morgan was a Useful Idiot for Castro, and now there are those among us who wish to revere him as an American hero. The romantics and idealists will be captivated by the dashing persona of Morgan, as they continue to carry forth the tattered colors of one of Castro's comandantes.

Stalin used the term, Useful Idiot as a form of derision for the wide eyed idealists who actually believed the propaganda about the altruistic goals of the revolution. These Useful Idiots performed their roles as selfless zealots for the revolution, often until the stark realization, just before they realized their own mortality, that their precious revolution was nothing more than a scam for a power mad despotic tyrant. Their only reprieve was most often a bullet through the brain to ease the pain of having been the ultimate fool.

Morgan was one of those who was destroyed by the same revolutionary forces he helped bring to power. Thus the quote, supposedly uttered by Robespierre before his execution, “The revolution eats its own children” has proven its merit countless times, as witless Useful Idiots have been devoured by the revolutions they nourished.

William Alexander Morgan, an American flunky, became a comandante in the revolutionary army of Fidel Castro. It was the highest rank and he shared the title with the Castro brothers, Huber Matos, and Che Guevara.

As a young man, Morgan had heard of the repressive regime of Fulgencia Batista and in 1957 left the US to join Castro's revolutionary army with dreams of glory and liberation. Morgan joined a ragtag group of twenty high school age boys who were nearly starved. He convinced them he could train them in tactics and hand to hand combat. Morgan had learned knife throwing as a circus performer and impressed the group with sticking a borrowed knife in a tree at twenty feet. The knife trick sealed the deal.

He became adept at setting up ambushes and fought with suicidal bravery in the front of the action. He became the leader of a fairly large force in the Escambray Mountains and had yet to meet the leadership of the revolution. He was promoted to Commandante while still conducting his independent war against Batista.

Eventually Batista left Cuba and Castro gained control. Morgan was declared a hero of the revolution, but he was soon contacted by the CIA, the Mob, and Trujillo (another ruthless tyrant who hated Castro); Morgan began playing the role of double agent.

He tricked an invasion force from Trujillo into landing and joining up with his army, his army was supposed to be in rebellion against Castro, it was a ruse; Trujillo's forces were slaughtered after Morgan closed the jaws of the trap.

He was playing the same games with Lansky of the Florida Mob and with the CIA, but rightfully or by mistake, Fidel had him executed on March 11, 1961, for supposedly being a triple agent.

In a dramatic conclusion to an epic adventure, comparable to the tragic stories of ancient Greeks, Morgan was led into the moat of an eighteenth century stone fortress from out of the dark of night, to stand in front of stark searchlights of a firing squad, there stood the only American to fight for Castro and the only foreigner, other than Dr. Guevara, to reach the rank of comandante. A member of the execution squad yelled out, “Kneel and beg for your life.”

The defiant Morgan replied, “I kneel to no man,” and was subsequently shot through the right knee; yet, Morgan refused to kneel and stood until shot through the other knee. When Morgan was writhing on the ground in pain, he was shot through one shoulder. He bit into a wrist to keep from crying out in pain. He was shot through the other shoulder and still refused scream in agony. Eventually, the firing squad unleashed a continuous fusillade of rounds through his head and torso.

Reading like the script for an adventure movie or a novel, Morgan's life was a series of minor disasters and failed marriages. Although, the key to this enigmatic adventurer seems to be in his unwillingness to accept responsibility, either in the military, his work, or in family life. However in fairness, his marriage to Olga Rodriguez lasted throughout the revolution until his death. She was sentenced to thirty years in prison, but was freed for the Mariel Boat Lift to the US. She and selected others were segregated and put aboard an old wooden boat. In typical Castro sadism, this boat's hull was raked by gunfire from a cuban gunboat and left to sink in the open ocean. By a stroke of luck, an American military helicopter saw the situation and ferried the passengers to Florida.

Morgan was a fool who believed the hype and propaganda written by devoted Leftists like the New York Times reporter, Herbert Mathews, who provided free propaganda for Communism, writing in praise of Castro: “The personality of the man is overpowering”, “Here was an educated, dedicated fanatic, a man of ideals, of courage”, and concluded that Castro possessed, “strong ideas of liberty, democracy, social justice, the need to restore the Constitution”.

Morgan may have believed he was fighting for freedom and democracy, but like the earlier Useful Idiots that Stalin chuckled over, Morgan was used and played for a witless fool. His widow Olga petitioned the US government to have Morgan's citizenship reinstated and after several years, he was deemed to have never had it taken away. There is also a movement to have Morgan recognized as an American hero. Obviously, Leftists want to celebrate the image of a revolutionary hero and glamorize the life of a man who was an American traitor.

Presently, we have real American heroes by the tens of thousands, and more soon to come home, who need a helping hand or a word of encouragement at the very least. These are the ones who need to be recognized, not Americans who fought for dubious ideas of liberty and freedom for anti-American tyrants

There will be many who feel Morgan's close ties with the FBI, the CIA, his mercenary betrayal of the Dominican Republic's Trujillo, and his supposed dedication to freedom and democracy are reasons for proclaiming him a national hero, instead of an adventurer and opportunist with mob connections, whose naiveté allowed him to be used as one of Castro's most famous and tragic Useful Idiots or lackeys; who was allowed to live, until his calls for elections and democracy became an embarrassment for Castro.

While writing in prison, Morgan's letter to his sons, from a previous marriage, reveal the tragic contradictions of his life:

“Love your God- and Your Country- and Stand Up for both. And I know that your Country…will Always be proud of you.”

Let's not forget, Morgan had many opportunities to leave Castro's totalitarian Hell hole, he flew to the US several times, but elected to stay in Communist Cuba. It may have been to argue for elections and freedom, as his faithful followers will insist, but it could be that he found it hard to walk away from the prestige and privilege of a comandante of the glorious revolution. In either case it was a fatal error. If his reason for staying was to lobby for democracy, it could be logically argued, he was merely experiencing another symptom of the naiveté that brands him as a Useful Idiot.

Calling Morgan, who was by all accounts a brave fool, an American hero is a mistake for at least two reasons: it insults our real heroes living and dead, and it sets a poor example for young people who need to distinguish between loyalty to their country and serving tyrants like Castro. For while the impressionable are being duped by monsters, they are dreaming of liberating mankind and making a beautiful utopia on earth. In reality, they are being used like toilet paper by a despot who wants control, power, and money.

About Skook

A professional horseman for over 40 years, Skook continues to work with horses. He is in an ongoing educational program, learning life's lessons from one of the world's greatest instructors, the horse. Skook has a personal website skooksjournal.com featuring his personal writings and historical novel type stories.

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4 Responses to “Useful Idiots Become Cannon Fodder For The Left”

Reverend Oil Guy from Alberta

This idiot cannot hold a candle to Chesty Puller, who got his jungle training in Haiti and Nicaragua while helping the constabularies of both countries. Puller was a lieutenant and rose in rank quickly. He was awarded many times by both countries. When his country needed him in Guadalcanal, Puller was irreplaceable. Puller is the best example I can give for being an outstanding American.
Look at Stalin’s USSR and the thousands of useful idiots that got the Beria treatment. The best incident I remember is the meeting Stalin held on a boat. All the delegates he wanted at this meeting were on board, waiting for his appearance. All the doors were barred and the boat was scuttled. I don’t recall the number of idiots lost in that “accident”. Tyranny at its best.

Reverend, it tickles me that you know about one of the patron saints of the Marines.

I was on Parris Island in boot camp when he was driven on the island for the USMC birthday. The big naval batteries started firing when he arrived and those old wooden barns we lived in shook so hard, I though they were going to collapse. Our Senior DI, said with pride, “Today you are part of history.” Well, I don’t know how many are left who were on the island that day or how much history we shared, but I remember it like it was last week.

Liberal1 (objectivity)

Who calls Morgan an American hero? I find it patronizing that you’re surprised that anyone else knows who Chesty Puller was—anyone that’s been in the Marines knows about Chesty Puller. Didn’t you know that?

I also find the term ‘useful idiots’ an adequate description of many right-wingers incapable of critical thought.

Critical thought, that’s how you describe the meaningless talking points every Lib picks up from Media Matters and then regurgitates continuously, as if they have harnessed fusion for energy; at least, until everyone stops listening to the morons.

Oh, by the way Lib, if you had taken the time to read the frigging article in the New Yorker, you would know who is trying to make a hero out of Morgan. You should stay in the wading pool, you are in over your head and the only thing you accomplish here is to make you and your party look like blithering idiots.